Brain computer interfaces (Prof. Battaglini)

Piero Paolo Battaglini is full professor of Physiology at the University of Trieste, Department of Life Sciences, since 2000. He was born in Florence on July 14, 1951. He graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 1976 at the University of Catania, then moved to the University of Bologna, where he was assistant in charge until 1980 and then researcher until 1988. He spent a period of time in Baltimore (USA) at Johns Hopkins University. There he learned to teach monkeys to perform motor tasks (eye and arm movements) while recording the electrical activity of single neurons in the visual cortex. In Bologna, he contributed to the discovery and description of new types of neurons (real motion and real position cells), probably involved in the recognition of movement and position of objects in the visual space in spite of eye movement. He also participated in a large neuroanatomical study which contributed to the knowledge of the connections of visual regions of the cerebral cortex.

In 1988 he moved to the University of Trieste, as associate professor. Here he continued to collaborate with the group of Bologna, contributing to the knowledge of the role played by a visual region of the parietal cortex in visually guided movements, in monkeys. Then he started experiments based on electroencephalography and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Main interests lie in the study of neuronal aspects of voluntary movement as cortical correlates of its preparation and execution.

By the translational point of view, these studies aim at the development of new brain machine interfaces and neurofeedback protocols for motor disabled patients. Actually he is also involved in a project aimed at the comprehension of the modified electrical activity in ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder syndrome) children and stroke patients and to the development of proper neurofeedback protocols for them.

Professor Battaglini has more than 80 papers published in international scientific journals.

Academic positions (last 5 years):

Full professor of Physiology. Coordinator of OPBA, the ethical committee for animal experimentation of the University of Trieste.

Info

Research

The research program coordinated by Professor Battaglini is mainly centred on the involvement of the cerebral cortex in the preparation and execution of voluntary movement in humans. The research is based on brain-computer interfaces and neurofeedback approaches. New strategies are being developed to enable interpersonal communication and to drive devices of various kinds with the electrical activity of the brain only. The procedures adopted from time to time are also tested for their potential to contribute to the cognitive and neuromuscular rehabilitation in severely neurologically affected patients.

The neurophysiology of developmental stuttering in adulthood: brain connectivity and motor functions

This line of research studies the neurophysiology of developmental stuttering that persists in adulthood (PDS). PDS is a speech disturbance, where the subject exactly knows what he wants to say, but he is unable to do it fluently. PDS is characterized by a series of brain dysfunctions, also at the motor level. Its aetiology and neurophysiologic profiles are not well understood.

In the present project, motor markers of PDS, as well as its neural networks, are investigated by using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), also in co-registration with electroencephalography (EEG). TMS is used to evaluate the excitability of motor structures in PDS, evaluate the functioning of motor effectors that are directly related with speech as well as those that are not directly related with it. When registering EEG, TMS is administered on motor/premotor regions, evaluating the cortical reactivity of the brain as well as the neural sources of the evoked activity. Thus, it is possible to evaluate the connectivity among the stimulated brain regions and those areas that are connected with them.

Use of neurofeedback approach in ADHD

Neurofeedback is a tool through which an individual learns to change the electrophysiological aspects of his brain activity. In other words, through neurofeedback, the brain is trained to produce brain waves into specific frequencies and specific locations.

ADHD is the acronym for "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" and may appear during the neuropsychological development of the child and adolescent, being accompanied by EEG signs of altered function.

The neurofeedback approach to ADHD offers a range of advantages. First of all, it does not require the use of drugs and has proven to be effective also in subjects who are refractory to drug therapy. In addition, while the cortical effects of medicines are manifested only when these are present in the system, it has long been known that the changes of cortical and thalamo-cortical dynamics obtained with neurofeedback persist a long time after training.

The high cost of treatment (most of the scientific work on the use of neurofeedback was conducted with complex equipment and in protected environments) and individual variability are, however, important limits to the study and systematic use of this methodology.

Recently, however, economic and easy to use instruments appeared in the marked, primarily developed for the world of video games, which are based on the detection of brain's electrical activity, hence can be used for neurofeedback applications.

On this basis, we are currently studying EEG changes in experimental situations where relaxation and concentration techniques are used in children with ADHD.

Neurofeedback (NFB) therapy is becoming more and more recognized as a treatment modality that can help the brain after stroke to repair itself. NFB is capable of bypassing the normal motor output of neural pathways and directly translating brain signals into commands for control of external devices. NFB systems of this type usually estimate the patient’s motor intention from the changes in brain activity over primary sensorimotor cortex and display them through visual feedback. Using this information the patient can consciously adapt his/her brainwave activity to reach targeted training thresholds. Previous studies using NFB technology yielded some plastic changes in the electrical activity recorded over the sensorimotor region of the cerebral cortex and improvement in motor performance. Those systems are thus expected to help guide cortical reorganization by motor learning, and to make neurorehabilitative approaches more effective.

The primary outcomes in this study are to investigate which changes in brain waves, induced by NFB, are best suited to ameliorate motor symptom and to standardize the related procedures.